Phoebe's devo

Phoebe brought her devotional book out on the porch this morning to read with me and as has happened many times, in the midst of teaching one of my precious children a life lesson, the Lord, ever so sweetly, taps on my very own shoulder and whispers as only He can, "Adrian, are you hearing this?" 

And I answer, "Yes, Lord, this is a good one, my child needs this." 

And He persists, "Adrian. Are you hearing this?" 

Oh. Heh-heh. Umm, yah. 

"Adrian, are you hearing this?" 

"...yes."  (*Speak Lord, for your servant is listening*)

Humbling to find that the lesson you are trying to teach another is actually for you. Mhm. Happens to me all the time. 

So, back to this morning, the title was Satan Is A Thief. The Bible Verse: A thief comes to steal and kill and destroy. John 10:10 

Yep, heard it. But  I didn't hear it. 

The next section is Thoughts to Grow On: ..."Jesus gives you three clues to determine if something is from the devil. 

1. If it will 'steal' anything of yours, such as your honesty or your innocence, it is of the devil.

2. If it will 'kill' anything of yours, such as your hope or your desire to do good, it is of the devil. 

3. If it will 'destroy' anything of yours, such as your good reputation or your faith, it is of the devil. 

Satan wants to ruin your life. Jesus wants to bless your life. When you choose Jesus' way, you win a great victory over the devil. 

Today: Seek a blessed life in Jesus!

I had not thought about this scripture to this extent! I had just thought of stealing goods, killing life, and destruction of things or buildings. But today, this morning, as Phoebe is reading her 'Early Reader Devotional and Prayer' book aloud to me, I learned more about the enemy's tactics. I love it when He takes a somewhat simple verse, and soaks it fully into my heart. So I will be working on my latest lesson-learned-while-trying-to-teach-my children lesson. Thank You, Lord. 

On a spiritual level, beware of the enemy seeking to steal, kill, and destroy. Your honesty, your innocence, your hope, your desire to do good, your good reputation, or your faith. 

Satan wants to ruin your life. 

Jesus wants to bless your life. 

Blessings, love and prayers! XO  

A couple o' pics...

funny.

cute.

Not at the table, Dad.

Sitting at the table having lunch, and Phoebe says, "Mama, I don't really feel like chips, can I put these back?"
Daddy says, "You don't look like chips, Phoebe."
Ooo, corny-dad-joke.
Phoebe says, "Oh, Dad, not at the table."

Ha.

And here are some Father's Day pics! Enjoy!

Traditional breakfast in bed. 

Stack o' pancakes! 

Sweet, huh.

Here they are again! :)

and, bonus, a pic of L.E.

How do you choose what you're wearing for the day???

I was helping Phoebe get dressed this morning and I picked up a cute little brown skort, looks like a skirt but has shorts underneath.
She groaned, is that a skort?
Me: Yes, but lets just try it on and see.
Phoebe: Usually I can't lift my leg very high with a skort, Mama, how I test the skort is if I can lift my leg up.
Me: (laughing) Why do you choose by how high you can lift your leg? What are you doing? Peeing on a tree?(sorry MomMom, hang in there it gets better!)
Phoebe: No! To see if I can lift my leg high enough to get on a horse.
Me: OOoooooh, of course. To see if you can get on a horse.

*HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! Making sure her clothing doesn't hinder getting on a horse! A horse!

Um, dear Phoebe, we...don't...HAVE...a horse. I'm sorry. I love you. Don't worry, you can change out of the skort after church and put on something more appropriate for horse-riding. Love, Mama. xo

...a title...what to title....title...hmm.....

First Softball Game-
Oh my, where to start for you...
Ellie and Phoebe are on a softball team together this year. First year. 6-9 year old girls, I think was the age range  I overheard a woman say tonight. 6-9 year old. girls.
Some of these girls knew what they were doing. sort of. You know, they had played before and could get a hit when it was pitched right to them. Others...(my adorable daughters) swung at almost anything, barely swung, and needless to say, struck out. They are just starting out and giving the game a try. They get 3 pitches by a player and 2 from the coach. Each of them. Which is most of them, like I said, a few of them could get a hit. And most hits were either out of bounds or right in the very, very in-field. So the first time in from the outfield, Phoebe came over and I was talking to her about keeping her mit on her hand and watching the ball game. Yes, yes, mom, I am... Did you see the horses?! I said, horses? No, I did not see the horses. Oh Boy. 2 hours later, is all I am going to say. 2 Hours. First game. Part of the time I amused myself imagining how the 4 men coaching were handling  it. I didn't see any signs of impatience or anything, I just wondered if any of them were pondering knocking themselves unconscious with one of those baseball bats. Ha-ha.
It will be fun interesting to see how things progress over the next few weeks. :) Anyway, John had to work and I didn't know any other parents very well, or at all, so I just sat there. Did I mention it was for 2 hours? Yep, 2 hours. I texted my sister and mom a bit and told them I wished they were there! And I did! I wished someone were there with me to... enjoy the game with me... for 2 hours. And I do get the people who bring their own chairs... and bags of things to do.... for 2 hours.  :)heehee  Okay, I am kidding, a little. Ellie actually asked between innings at one point, Mom are you bored? Whenever I look at you you are just sitting there with your head on your hands. I told her I was just peacefully watching. Which is true. It was interesting to 'people watch' and 'people listen' and just relax. (although, again, not loving the bleachers). for 2 hours. Ha-haaa

"your patience possess your souls" Luke 21:19

I love My Utmost for His Highest and today's really struck me, so I am cut-n-pasting it here:


"your patience possess your souls" Luke 21:19

When a person is born again, there is a period of time when he does not have the same vitality in his thinking or reasoning that he previously had. We must learn to express this new life within us, which comes by forming the mind of Christ (see Philippians 2:5 ). Luke 21:19 means that we take possession of our souls through patience. But many of us prefer to stay at the entrance to the Christian life, instead of going on to create and build our soul in accordance with the new life God has placed within us. We fail because we are ignorant of the way God has made us, and we blame things on the devil that are actually the result of our own undisciplined natures. Just think what we could be when we are awakened to the truth!

There are certain things in life that we need not pray about— moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but we will by kicking it out of our lives. Moods nearly always are rooted in some physical circumstance, not in our true inner self. It is a continual struggle not to listen to the moods which arise as a result of our physical condition, but we must never submit to them for a second. We have to pick ourselves up by the back of the neck and shake ourselves; then we will find that we can do what we believed we were unable to do. The problem that most of us are cursed with is simply that we won’t. The Christian life is one of spiritual courage and determination lived out in our flesh.

Rescued into Jesus' arms...

...deep sigh...
One of the sweetest, most lovely of Jesus' servants has died. And though I cannot speak of her without tears, my heart is both sad and relieved. Her rescue from this world, while a relief from the pain of cancer attacking her body, is a great loss to the people living on the Earth still.
This post is like a journal entry for me, I guess, I just need to let all the thoughts out of my heart on this one.
Sandy. She owned the Bible book store in town, The Lighthouse. And at the back of the store she had another business, Hair Success. She was a beautician. So when we needed a book or cd, we went there and when we needed a haircut, we went to Sandy.
It was one of the charms of this small town. She was one of the charms of this small town. A sweet, christian woman giving encouragement, haircuts, and love. Not just sweet people that you know love, but the love of Jesus radiated out of this woman. We fell in love with her the first time we got our haircut there. She is true one. Know what I mean? T.r.u.e. Real. Authentic. Beautiful. An amazing reflection of Jesus. Have you met people like that? They are amazing. Please, Lord, make me like you. When I grow up, I want to be like Jesus.
Not long ago she found out she had cancer. She went through treatments, still working. She stopped treatments, still working. She was in pain, still working. One of the last couple of times we went in, when we were getting ready to leave she spoke some precious, heart-rending words of encouragement over me. She spoke sweet words over me?! Shouldn't I be speaking encouragement to her? She had to sit down in the middle of the haircuts to rest! A.mazing. Strength. Strength of Christ. She never complained. Always smiled.
I WANT TO BE LIKE THAT!
Sorry, I want this to be about her. But, Lord, make me like You! When you meet someone who loves and adores their Savior and His love emanates from them, your inadequacies are glaringly evident. I heard a teaching on the scripture of Jacob wrestling with the Lord, and how he had finally learned not to run away or lie his way out of difficult situations, but he held onto the Lord until he received the blessing. This is where we need to strive to be, go to the Lord and hold on until you get the thing right! Wrestle with the Lord until you get it! Hang on until He changes you and you grow closer to Him and better for it! Lord! Lord...I pray.

Thank You for blessing me with meeting your beautiful servant Sandy.

 I know that You love her abundantly and when she came into your presence You spoke those beautiful words that we long to hear, 

'Well done, good and faithful servant.' 

Oh Lord, those words... 

I thank You again for the lessons of the bible study on Daniel and the understanding of Your delivering us from the 'fires', either by keeping us from it, or bringing us through it or blessedly taking us by it. Your sweet daughter Sandy... You longed to bring her home and finally you were able to wait no longer. 

You rescued her. I love You for it. 

And meanwhile,we are the worse for the wear, we will have her no longer, and oh, my, what a great loss. But we had her and were loved by You through her. May we be better for knowing her, in remembering, she will continue to inspire us to shine our light in the darkness as she did while she was here. And one glorious day we hug on her again, when we finally, blessedly get our call into Your arms, out of this world.
Thank You, Jesus.